Love By
Comparison!
"Therefore be imitators of God as
dear children. And walk in love."
Ephesians 5: 1-2
In English class, we learn that a simile is a figure of
speech used to make comparisons using the words
as and like, words that occur nearly ninety times in
the book of Proverbs.
That book is filled with comparisons between wisdom
and folly. For example, Proverbs 25:28 says, “Whoever
has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken
down, without walls.”
Similes occur in the New Testament also, especially
when comparing our behavior to God’s behavior. For
example, when saying we should “walk in love,” Paul
uses two similes to explain how. We are to forgive
“as God in Christ forgave [us],” (Ephesians 4:32), and
we are to “walk in love, as Christ also has
loved us”
(Ephesians 5:2).
We are to compare our forgiveness and love to the
forgiveness and love of God in Christ. We are to love
sacrificially as Christ gave “Himself for
us, an offering
and a sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). And sacrifice
involves a cost, a price to pay.
Love is not cheap, especially love of enemies.
Make a point to love and
forgive someone today
the way God loves and forgives you.
"To love to preach is one thing—
to love those
to whom we preach,
quite another."
Richard Cecil